He got a Antonio Brown suspended for three games.
He got Urban Meyer fired
Rick's. Trout of the Tampa Bay times. I brought you on for one
reason and one reason only I'm telling you, this stay the hell
out of my backyard. Welcome.
Yeah, the, the mi amigo.
Not inviting me down there. I don't know
is nervous.
Well, it's been an eventful month for you. Congratulations
on all the great work and the great reporting reporting. That
was Vindicated. I know you took a lot of heat from some
for the, an Tony Brown Report and it was right
and the Josh Lambo reporting, not that you had as many people
upset with you over that. It was more of Ding Dong. The
Witch Is Dead when it came to Josh Lambo and the aftermath of
it but
but great stuff and and great reporting. And
I'm curious now about the Buccaneers with Antonio Brown
back. What is the overall vibe?
Of brown his return is, he chagrined is he can't write and
do they plug him straight back in to the roster?
Yeah, Mike and not just in the roster but in the lineup and
I mean, you know, the timing for them sort of works out, right?
You lose a guy like Chris Godwin. Mike Evans probably
isn't going to play this week. They're desperate. Now
four receivers that Tom. Brady can trust and that's why he's
still here. No, make no mistake. I mean, I know what
Bruce Arians has said, you know, he was the last strike
guy and all that. The Umpire is not loose Aryans. In this case
when you have Tom Brady, it's a zero-sum game. You're there to
win Super Bowl. Nothing less
and that's why Antonio Brown is coming back in the building,
presumably, he's healthy again. He hasn't played since October
against Philadelphia. So, you know, they definitely can eat
them but he's not gonna be able to do two things. Chris Goblin
did,
he will give them a deep threat. I will give them a guy
that Brady trust and
they certainly need up from a football standpoint. But beyond
that, you know, some fans are upset. Some are just want to
win. So it's kind of a mixed reaction.
Ricky you talked about, it's Tom Brady's team and he wanted
him back. But did the Box publicly? At least they said
they had a decision to make?
Did they come close at all to considering to consider cutting
him or was this all along? He's coming back and they just said
publicly what they had to say.
Yeah. I think it was more. Just, you know, why are we
dealing with this now? Let's kick the can down the road.
I mean, there was three weeks where presumably Antonio Brown
could find more trouble, right?
One of the Is he did and I don't know that there was
a condition on this, but he settled
with Stephen or with he's the chef that he owned.
Oh ten thousand dollars to, we don't know the amount but
that settlement was reached. So
there might have been some boxes. He needed to check. But
from what I understand. He was rehabbing, he was get himself
back in shape. He was in the building quite a bit, which is
different from the old days. When you were suspended, you
had to go away, but he had an injury,
so I think he did what they felt he needed to do to come back.
And like I said, I never doubted. I didn't think there
was any question that time to suspend him or the time to cut
him would have been, you know, when they found out a use
a fake vax card if that's not going to do it.
You know, I think people also forget that this was a fairly
serious situation mean he got covid we to which means he was
in there with vaccinated people pretending to be vaccinated,
guys like Bruce Arians whose immune compromised,
Tom Moore, a something, your old
assistant. So they're very fortunate that. Worst didn't
happen. And,
you know, I know that Bruce was upset about it, but not to
the extent that they're not going to try to win football games
with them.
And as a relates to putting him in the lineup, there was some
Buzz that maybe they were considering
basically putting him on ice for the rest of the regular
season. He's got some incentives. He's within
a touchdown of unlocking 333,000 hundred yards and change
another 333,000.
The rest of it's going to be harder for him to get
What kind of an extra message your back
but we're just going to keep you
in the in our back pocket until we really need you. That one
out the window though, to the extent. They were thinking
about that, that's gone. When you have Mike Evans with
a week-to-week hamstring injury, and Chris Godwin done for
the year with a torn ACL.
Mike I watched Tom Brady run three pop passes to him so he
could get his 50 catches or whatever. It was a year ago or
you know, another quarter million dollars in the final game when
you know, Ronald Jones needed a few yards for 1,000. I mean,
you know, this is the kind of thing that Brady takes care of
his guys and to the extent that you know, this year on offense.
He has been pretty exclusive with Gronkowski the two
receivers obviously Evans in Godwin
and For net and almost to the detriment, you know, I think we
saw it against the Saints when those guys got hurt
all of a sudden guys, like cam, Brady and Ronald, Jones, and
Scotty Miller who had been inactive.
They were out of sync. With Brady. They hadn't gotten many
reps with him. In practice. It sounds like an excuse but it's
a pretty good one. They did not use their whole roster. The way
they did a year ago and
Brady's guys have been the ones that have been doing the heavy
lifting. So now he's got to find Joe Brown again. Richard
pyramid may come off the covid list. We don't
Know if that's going to happen or not. He would be his number
two. Presumably. And they may have to do it with a couple of
tight ends. Maybe OJ, Howard gets back out there a little
bit, but they haven't used their whole roster on offense.
Like they did a year ago.
Hey Rick before she can answer your question. Let me follow
up. Let me follow up. Why is it? Because I noticed that last
year,
you could change out one guy for another one guys injured.
Another guy goes in, and it works in other guys in and wash
all the way into the postseason, big catch. It
seemed like you could count on Scotty Miller for one again.
Tyler Johnson the catches he made in the postseason.
It felt like it was working with everyone. Why have they
allowed it to skew toward his guys? This year and not have
everyone in a position where they can have that
chemistry with Brady right away.
Well, I think you've also seen the offense morph into a true
Tom Brady offense. I mean, you know teams are playing covered
to against them without brown. They were 5 and 0 they lit it
up with a few games. They had their three receivers, but
without that
I think he just trusts who we trust. You know, he couldn't
trust Ronald Jones and pass protection. It's been a lot
about Brady not getting hit, the offensive line has done
a good job, but if teams are going to play cover to, he
wants to run the ball. He
wants to check it down. To his running back
for next done. A better job.
Catching the ball
this year in running routes. So
it's just been a matter of trust. His guys have gotten
the Lion's Share of the work and he's not compromising on that
this year. Like we did a year ago, and he was trying to, you
know, incorporate everybody get used to everyone
ingratiate himself, perhaps with some of their other
players. That just hasn't been. The story is really all focused
on winning each game and trying to put themselves in the best
position to win a Super Bowl.
Chris Godwin was so instrumental last year in their
playoff run and he's obviously been their leading receiver.
This season. They seem to have a chemistry that maybe he
doesn't quite have with Mike Evans,
even with a be coming back. Rick. How much are they going
to miss Chris Godwin? And can they repeat without him?
Serena, it's going to be impossible to replace him from
this stance of, you know, he plays the slot position. You
can go back to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Hines Ward, or to
the Cardinals with Larry Fitzgerald in this offense.
That guy does a lot of things
and Chris Godwin does things that no one else can do, which
is Crackdown on linebackers and defensive lineman in the Run
game. That's where they're going to miss him as much as
anything, but he makes
those tough inside catches, those combat catches.
He has tremendous.
I had one little spell where he bought his hands in
the postseason
and he just says everything, right? And he's also a guy who
never comes out off the field. He just doesn't seem to be
exhausted ever. So you're going to need several players to
attempt, to play that position and to do those things.
They'll miss him
more than they would almost any receiver. I think because of
all that he does in this offense.
Hey Rick,
there has been plenty of talk about Tom Brady, not running
the ball as much as we've seen him. Run specifically. Not take
the hits. There's been some speculation that some of those
hits have maybe
ding them up. And we know last year.
They're not bashful about hiding injuries. Is there
a concern? Given the things you see the things you've noticed.
The things you've heard that maybe he's breaking down
a little bit, this far into the season and maybe some dings
that they're not going to tell us
about that. He gets treated. Alex Guerrero off the book. So
they don't even know. He's injured anything like that for
us to be concerned about in this
44 year and four month old body.
Well, just that it's a year older. And I think the game
that he had against the bills. You can see the frustration.
I'm Bruce Arians on the sidelines, because he ran
the ball way too much, and
he called his own number on the goal line, and a quarterback
sneak, and they took some liberties with him. He was very
sore recording. Some coaches. I talked to afterwards, even
after that snake, you saw him on the sideline
immediately, pick up a ball and begin throwing it trainer went
over. Some, you said, I'm okay.
They're giving him days off. This is the time of year where
they did that. Year ago. So the pitch count is, you know,
trying to control that
even in warm-ups. He doesn't throw every ball. So
I think that they recognized with a 17th game with his age.
It's not going to get better. But have I seen velocity come
off. His fastball or anything like that? No, I simply think
he doesn't want to get hit. He's never wanted to be a guy
that standing there very long.
And, you know, the Saints certainly have the right form
in the right Personnel, not everyone can do that, but it's
certainly something to watch. I mean, we're well beyond
what any quarterback is attempted to do and it's
amazing that he's still doing it at a high level.
They were pretty impressive. Last year, rig going on
the road as the wild-card team and winning three Road games
before, they got to play the Super Bowl at home. They've had
their
Road, woes, this year, for whatever reason. Is this a team
that you think can go on the road? Say they get that three
or four seed and have to go win two games on the road, to get
back to the Super Bowl. Is this a team that can win on the road
this year?
Shireen, I think it's going to be very difficult. I think they
lost a lot more than just that Saints game, you know, they
fell out of the number to see if they still have a chance to
get it back if
it Dallas and the Cardinals were lose and they want out
but to go on the road more than a game. You know, last year was
the perfect scenario right? No fans in the Worland are very
few
Green. Bay was a balmy day. It was 33 degrees.
They were loud but it was again. It wasn't a full Lambeau
Field. They may have to go back through there and A one-game
situation where the pressure on the Packers,
that would just be what it is. But
if they only get to host a single playoff game, go through
Tom Brady's career. He's won a Super Bowl, and gotten back
the next year. Most of the time, he's gotten to the championship
game. But many times he hosted that, or at least you had
a couple playoff games at home.
This team had to add up to playoff games at home since
1979. They were in a position to do that. They lost to
the Saints. They cannot lose again and they're going to need some
help. So
I think it would be tough for them, quite frankly, the win
two games on the road to get to Los Angeles.
Hey, Rick, last one for you. And this may take more time
than what we really have. It may be a subject for another
day. But I'm curious.
We saw Urban Meyer be brought down by his
persistent application of kind of old-school methods. And if
he had one in Jacksonville,
he'd still be there with those old-school methods.
We saw Bill Belichick over the weekend apologize for how he
dealt with the media. There's always been kind of a subtle.
All mistreatment. You could argue. It's a little bullying
and that's what football coaches have always done.
There's always been an element of verbal abuse. I'm just
curious whether or not you think that
maybe we're starting to get to a point where and we know that
football is kind of behind the rest of society. I just can't
help but wonder whether or not we're getting to a point where
people are going to stop tolerating the verbal abuse as
just
part of the gig of being an NFL head coach.
Well, it's a great question and I think more and more. This
game is becoming about the players and it's a partnership
right? At, this is not college football with. They just begun
to be able to accept some money.
These aren't 18 and 19 and 20 year old kids.
So I would agree. You're starting to see a lot of young
coaches that can relate to players. I think Bruce Arians
does a great job and he's one of the older coaches in
the league,
but you know, mental illness is a real thing. We're you know,
whether it's Simone biles. We've seen a
ton of examples.
Of that of players that have needed a break.
It's a high-pressure business.
I think we're starting to understand the toll, it takes
on them, not just physically,
but mentally. And, you know, I think that the Quorum of life
in in,
you know, in regular work whether you work in an office
or Hospital, whatever it is
is changing and it should. And, and that's going to carry on to
the football field into those
run offices. And those organizations at some point.
I think it's a good thing.
There's no reason to To, you know,
to mean people and Bully them and talk to them the way Urban
Meyer did anymore. I think those days are past.
You got to win a lot of games for people to tolerate that and
I think it's changing and I think that's probably for
the better.
Hey Rick great work this month, and thanks as always for some
of your time. Happy holidays to you and yours, and we'll talk
to you again soon.
Same to you guys. Great to see you.